Machete

Reviews here talk about 1 enemy engaged and 2+ enemies engaged a lot, mentioning how easy it is to just kill one before the 2nd one arrives. But also easy to miss for beginners that you can fight with 0 enemy engaged (which won't get +1 damage), often a solution get the tempo back on track. I agree that 2+ engages are rare, even in high player count. But 0 engage situation isn't rare at all. For example :

  • Fight enemy that just spawned on the other investigator and you want to go first.
  • Fight exhausted enemy when the clue finder wants to go first and start with Evade.
  • Wants to Evade first to turn off Retaliate before fighting, now it also turn off the +1 damage.
  • Fighting enemy while you are at critical health / sanity. You don't want to have engagement after your 3rd action.
    • Quite often your friends still have usable health / sanity to take the Enemy Phase hit. Guns do let you continue dealing high damage at critical condition longer as long as you have your friends grabbing the enemy, even if they can't fight.
    • If you bet on your final action to kill the enemy but it didn't, your friend lose turn flexibility as they have to go later and Engage the enemy from you to save your life.
    • You want to ensure exhausted enemy to survive 2 dmg/horror hits in Enemy Phase, so normally you start with Evade 1-3 times until it succeeds, use the remaining action if any to Fight. Now, you are incentivised to Fight as much as possible to get the +1 damages then Evade on the last one, which maybe risky if that test fails.

I played only 2P from the start for a whole year and the disadvantage was negligible, Machete was a staple. 3P and above however I realized how useful and exciting the kill-stealing Fight without Engage could be. So many things can occur in just one Mythos Phase on 3P+, and I need more flexibility to resolve it. My group pretty much shoot bullets left and right as soon as Investigation Phase begins without engaging first by default, unless friendly fire would defeat the investigator then we start playing safer. We found something like .45 Automatic to be a better fit for the group's playstyle despite limited ammo.

5argon · 10189
Guidance

So, no one bothered to review the level 0 version, probably because it was clearly a trade-off: investigator A spends an action to give an additional action to investigator B so collectively there is no action gain, simply a transfer from the one that probably has the most important role (getting the clues). But you had to include the card in your deck instead of one actually helping you to fullfill your role (or helping the other investigator to fulfill his/hers).

This version gives an additional bonus: all the - 4 - actions get a +1, which is a good thing (comparable to half an Encyclopedia but for all skills) ... but shines if investigator B is a rogue using a few of the events that add to skill values (Cheap Shot, Slip Away and Breaking and Entering).

And in a "big hand" deck you also have the option of using Farsight to play guidance as a fast event to avoid the loss of an action.


it doesn't provoke attack of opportunity as an other additional bonus but it seems unlikely that you care about AoOs just for this action so it's a quite situational bonus
AlexP · 251
I agree 100%. The best user case (outside of Farsight decks) is probably parallell Roland with the Red Tape Directive (" When you play an Insight or Tactic event, exhaust this Directive: That event gains fast"). He might be fine with the level 0 versio, though. — olahren · 3431
Oddly this card feels like it’s more comparable to a skill rather than an event. For a net loss of 0 actions, somebody will get ? on all their tests this round. As AlexP notes, skill-double-dip tests from rogues (or mystics) will enjoy, an additional synergy w rogues is they have the most access to bonus actions already, so if your rogue has Leo Deluca or is Skids or wants to Think Quick etc, that’s all the more actions with a free ? attached. — HanoverFist · 721
> it doesn't provoke attack of opportunity as an other additional bonus but it seems unlikely that you care about AoOs just for this action so it's a quite situational bonus — Docteur_Hareng · 7
About the attack of opportunity, this feels like a card mandy would love to play to help the fighters taking down a massive ennemy in a single turn. — Docteur_Hareng · 7
@ Docteur_Hareng: The reason, that is a very situational bonus is, that if you spend an action to play this, you will most of the time still have 2 actions to forgo, if you are incapable of evading the enemy, you are engaged with. Unless you have other options to avoid AoO, like the "Prophesiae Profana" or other events, or the scenario gives you some oportuity to parley, et cetera. — Susumu · 366
Counterespionage

Q: When paying 6 to get both effects, does the other investigator get to draw from your deck or their own? The wording makes it sound like they'd get to draw from your deck. I wonder if with friends in low places or other affects which let you search the top of your deck, you could pass cards with this.

Malcoto · 4
It is his own deck. — Tharzax · 1
I don't think the other player draws anything... It's still the card player who will draw one of the cards, even if it's played on another player's encounter card. — Hylianpuffball · 29
As Hylianpuffball said, the first kicker effects the second sentence and the second kicker effects the first sentence. Neither interact in any way. Even if you cancel another investigator's encounter card revelation effect, you draw a card (whether from the top of the encounter deck or your own). — Death by Chocolate · 1460
Rita Young

At time of release, Rita was considered a low tier investigator, with her best stat being the comparable weakest, and no great card pool. Evading and doing a bit of damage, with her ability and the Ornate Bow, was the best she seemed to be able to do. But her access to Tricks shaped out several ways, she is interesting to play nowadays. The events from the Winifred Habbamock starter deck, namely Pilfer and Sneak By, gave her a first option to investigate using her great stat, and some economy to play this card. Although she also got Easy Mark in "The Dream Eaters", Pilfer was still too expensive for her, in particular in the upgraded version, that can be potentially played once per round. Innsmouth (more precise regarding the old release model: In Too Deep) came and brought Breaking and Entering (0), as a cheaper option, that was also more suitable for lower player counts, and synergizes well with her ability.

"Edge of the Earth" added with Crafty finally a reasonable way to pay for the endless replayable on oversuccess suite of Wini-Tricks (aside Pilfer (3) also Cheap Shot (2) and Slip Away (2)) to investigators with no access to Chuck Fergus. It also gave Rita a fancy new bow, that does not need reload actions, and several new Tricks, the greatest for her being the Sweeping Kick.

And then came "The Scarlet Keys". It added Breaking and Entering (2) to the set of "recurable event upgrades", introduced the first Trick assets with Disguise and Dirty Fighting and made "investigating with " a thing feasible for her, thanks to expanding the options for zero shroud. I tested her mainly in the "main cluever role", you can check my deck here. But I think, she should also fit nice into "main goon" or "flex". Disguise outclasses either version of Slip Away for her, and Dirty Fighting boosts her to 5 (or with a bow to 7 or 8), as long, as she does, what she's supposed to do anyway, while also giving her the action back, she took evading. I think, she grow now an excellent investigator, who can be built in many different ways to fun and successful results. A good example of how somebody can grow with their card pool.

Susumu · 366
The return to circle undone also made her more viable, with an emphasis on evasion, movement, and agility treacheries. Message #me — MrGoldbee · 1460
Or read my #review. — MrGoldbee · 1460
Yeah, I think, the encounter decks are shifting back to foot tests again. They designed core set with the "Rotting Remains" with horror for willpower tests and "Grasping Hands" with damage for agility tests counterparts, but then made "Striking Fear" much more commonly apear than "Ghouls", in part probably, because they considered agility also useful to some extend for evading, while willpower for any non-mystic a strictly defence stat for treacheries. But "Return to TCU" and also "Edge of the Earth" added some nasty agility treacheries. I have to see, if TSK continues this trend. Your review is very good, I gave it my like some time ago. It is more focused on solo play, which I think, she can be very strong, too, but have no personal experience off yet. Obviously, you have to take other cards than "Pilfer" then. — Susumu · 366
One-Two Punch

Just some food for thought:

It's a Dynamite Blast that's costs 3 less. The downside is you have to draw 2 chaos tokens, and can't attack from a location away. Plus side is that you don't take/deal 3 damage to your friends.

To be safe I'd play it in someone with 5 base fight, which is few and far between. Mark and Tony come to mind.

I guess weigh the odds and go from there.

P.s.- Tony gets a free action to engage or fight. If you're already engaged and choose to fight as your extra action, you could do between 4 damage (punch), or 5-9/10 with a weapon- Average w/weapon is 7.5 s Think 7 damage is worth 2 resources? Yes, my friend.

Ok, ok. Sorry. One last cheese.

Tony. Beretta M1918. 5 base, +4 Beretta, +1 vicious blow = 10 Total Fist. Double, or Nothing... Let's say your average monster has 3/4 Fight. Double is 6/8. I'd feel decent about a 10 vs. 8.
Chaos bag generally has 15 tokens, 5 of which make this attack fail. So...66% chance of success. Let's just say 70 for giggle. 3 in 4 chance to succeed, almost.

Final damage is 8 as your free action fight. Plus your One-Two punch = 3 damage, for a Final total of 11 damage if the stars align.

11 damage for 2 resources and 1 action. Yes please. Oh, you have 2 actions left btw.

Ps, Ps. Double or nothing One-Two punch at base 5/7 = 6 damage. So it's kinda like a shotgun?

Bang! Bang!

Edit: We all agree that Double or Nothing works with One-Two Punch as being applied to both attacks, as they are both in a single action, yes?

Someone check my math, but yeah.

Sure, this card is pretty good, but Dynamite Blast does damage to EVERY enemy at the location. — dscarpac · 1047
I can't parse some of these situations well enough to check the math, but it seems likely some of it is off. You mention seven damage for 2 resources but it's not clear where the +4 damage is coming from. In another spot you mention the Beretta, which can't be combined with the fight action on One Two Punch. One thing I am sure of is that Double Or Nothing (like all skill cards) only affects the test it's committed to and not subsequent tests (even if multiple tests are triggered by the same action). — Pseudo Nymh · 54
In response to your edit: absolutely not. Double or nothing applies only to the skill test it is committed to, so you need to pick one of them. — zrayak · 86
This reads like a fever dream, and it's clear that there are some misunderstandings on perhaps multiple levels. One of which might be that attacks deal damage equal to your skill test result? — Death by Chocolate · 1460
It's a little bit confusing: Tony starts his turn and attacks an enemy with a bounty. So this fight is his free action. He's using the Beretta and gets +4 skill and +2 Damage. Further he commit a vicious blow for a further skill and damage. If the attack succeed with a skill 10 (5+4+1) he deals 4 damage (1+2+1). Then he commits double or nothing for doubling the effect of the test for a total of 8 damage. With his next action he then play one of two punch for further 3 damage. In total 11 damage in two action for much more then 2 ressources since you need to pay the weapon. — Tharzax · 1
One thing to mention, though it wasn't debated, is the second fight on this card is an "if you succeed" which means it is part of the successful test. I think it you double or nothing the first test you then perform the second test twice. Meaning this +donut does 3 fights, each doing 2 damage — NarkasisBroon · 10